Question about upgrading to a bigger drive

Plex Media Server
1

I want to upgrade my Plex drive to a bigger one. Theres a support article which explains it pretty well. However I still got a question.
When I rename the new drive to the same name as the old drive will I have to also change the path in the library settings or will it recognize it either way? I’m wondering because the new drive will have a different drive letter assigned.

2

If you get a different drive letter, the files won’t be the same to Plex.
Best stick with the procedure described in the support article… add the new drive as a new source, verify Plex remaps the “new” files to the existing library items – only then remove the old source from Plex.

3

But the article doesn’t mention anything about adding the drive as a new source.

Screenshot_2021-05-19 Move Media Content to a New Location Plex Support
Screenshot_2021-05-19 Move Media Content to a New Location Plex Support918×836 29.8 KB

4

Then you need to make sure you’re having an exact copy that’ll be mapped to the same drive letter so it appears to be the same drive to Plex.

5

Yeah the part with the drive letter is what confused me. You probably should add it to the article in question.

6

I’ve been researching a bit more. Do you know if this will work?

  1. Install new drive
  2. Format it in Windows
  3. Copy all media files from the original drive to the new one with the same directory.
  4. Start Plex Media Server and add the new drive to the library.
  5. Remove media files from the old drive
  6. Update libraries
7

Isn’t that the exact procedure described in the support article you linked above ( „Moving Content to a New Location“)?

That’s what I was referring to.

8

If you want to keep trouble with Plex to a minimum, use this method:

  1. Install new drive
  2. Shut down Plex server (important!)
  3. Format the new drive in Windows
  4. Copy all media files from the original drive to the new one with the same directory and file names
    Preferably use a copy method which retains the file and folder date/time stamps (e.g. robocopy with the /MIR parameter)
  5. change the drive letter of the old drive to a different letter
  6. change the drive letter of the new drive to the same letter which the old drive used to have
  7. start Plex server

Done.

9

Yes kinda. Though I didn’t want to move files. I just wanted to upgrade to a bigger drive in the most hassle free way possible.

Edit: Since I want to avoid Plex flagging files as duplicates I will do it this way:

  1. Install new drive and format it
  2. Start plex and add the new (still empty) drive to the library
  3. Copy files from old to the new drive
  4. Delete everything from the old one and update libraries
  5. Remove old drive from Plex library settings
10

That way you’re going to lose your viewing history / ratings / manual edits etc.
Getting the duplicates is an interim step that will ensure Plex remembers that information. When you afterwards remove the old drive from Plex, each item will still have the “new files” associated and therefore the items with all their information remain intact.

11

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